Press Statement by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bagan, Lim Guan Eng in Kuala Lumpur On 19 October 2020:

The Prime Minister should show decisive leadership with a clear and unequivocal statement that there is no Cabinet reshuffle. This would allow the government to focus on the COVID-19 health crisis by dispelling the current political obsession. The highest COVID-19 infections of 871 cases is another shameful reminder to the failure of the Federal government to support the Health Ministry to successfully check the pandemic.

The Cabinet, Home Minister and the Prime Minister must bear the heaviest responsibility. The Cabinet failed to impose quarantine rules and COVID-19 safety protocols for those returning from Sabah after the Sabah state elections. The Home Minister failed to quickly control the outbreak in our crowded prisons and the Prime Minister’s obsession with political power games to retain his tenuous hold on government at the expense of the rakyat.

The Sabah state general election was unnecessary but was precipitated by the attempted power grab led by the Prime Minister and the former UMNO Sabah Chief Minister to depose the then Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal. And yet those responsible refused to admit responsibility but chose to instead blame the DAP. Such hypocrisy is best symbolized by the Minister Khairuddin who advised the public to observe the quarantine and COVID-19 rules.

Unlike ordinary Malaysians, Khairuddin was given special treatment and never charged in court for failing to observe a 14-day home quarantine. To PN and BN as well as Khairuddin who continues to blame the DAP for their failures, please look at the mirror.

The rakyat is sick of this government looking only after their own interests. Malaysians will depend on themselves to overcome this COVID-19 pandemic with our heroic frontliners. Together we shall overcome.

Lim Guan Eng,
DAP Secretary-General,
Member of Parliament for Bagan.